Sunday, 28 July 2013

How shall I spend a summer’s evening?

There are many ways one can enjoy a summer’s evening –
standing in brilliant sunshine with a glass of wine in the Tower of London was
not one that I had thought about before. I was attending the summer reception
of the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment at its new headquarters – the Tower of
London.

It is the
most decorated of all British Army regiments, with 57 Victoria Crosses. There
are three PWRR battalions, two regular and one territorial and it is the latter
that the Needlemakers Company has a close association with - the Third
Battalion Princess of Wales Royal Regiment (3 PWRR). (Known as the Tigers, the Regiment has a long,
distinguished history, having been involved in virtually every theatre of war
since the Battle of Tangier in 1662.)

Members of this TA Battalion are soldiers who take time out
from their civilian “day” jobs. Any thoughts that all this involves is weekends
yomping around the countryside couldn’t be further from the truth – they
support the regular army and have been in Iraq, Afghanistan and the rest.

It is a complicated situation in the current economic
circumstances – it is no mean contribution for a small/medium-sized company to
allow staff this leave of absence (protected by law): in return they get a
member of staff who has had additional training, received invaluable experience
– especially in people management, team work, team building and managing under
pressure. For the soldier – it can be
tough integrating back into the day job coming back from the front line. I have to think that anything that develops a
member of staff (especially at someone else’s expense) has to be valuable to
the organisation as a whole but it isn’t simple.

On a very superficial level I had a super evening, renewed
acquaintance with some former members of the regiment and met some new ones –
and was given a tiny tiger pin which I shall definitely wear with pride.

If you want to read a bit more see my blog from last year
about The
Albuhera Dinner. Rereading it I see
that I mentioned some of the same issues as I do again – they still remain. See below for the view of Tower Bridge against the evening sky as I was leaving - how lucky I am.

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About Me

I have left the world of full-time work behind. In 2011 I was the first woman to be Master of the Worshipful Company of Needlemakers about which I wrote extensively. I am on the Court and active in the Company, chairing the Charity Committee.
In July 2016 I was appointed Chair of the Trustees of the Institute of Health Visiting and will no doubt write about the amazing work that they do.
I consult to charities, particularly on strategy and governance and the challenges of managing small and medium sized charities.
I started this blog when I was running a breast cancer research charity and blogged mostly about that. I now cover a range of topics plus the occasional rant! Any unwise comments in this blog are my own!
I welcome comments but don't publish them - you can contact me through LinkedIn.